Curated Guide to Research
MediaPost's comprehensive guide to current research in the marketplace.
- Changes in data strategies have led many brands to increase their media spending on streaming platforms, as well as consider privacy policies.
- The report, "Data Capitalism + Algorithmic Racism," however, provides policy recommendations to solve the problem.
- Long-time media industry researcher Jane Clarke is retiring as managing director of CIMM. Consultant Jon Watts is succeeding her.
- Nielsen One was characterized as a "streaming-first orientation" because of increasing demand from advertisers.
- The growth of CTV media deals may be having a major effect on business in terms of pricing and when to place messaging. Brand TV marketers have also shifted 20% to 25% of their budgets to streamers.
- Every marketer working with data to run campaigns should know something about Microsoft's SQL language built to manage and store information, says Steven Urgo, data insights analyst, Goodway Group.
- Tech changes come with new terminology, technical jargon and an "alphabet soup" of abbreviations.
- Meta, formerly known as Facebook, aims to build global brick-and-mortar retail stores for the devices being made by its Reality Labs division -- virtual reality headsets and someday, augmented-reality glasses, according to "The New York Times."
- This year’s World Series was notable for allowing stadiums to fill up with baseball fans versus last year’s limitations on attendance, given the pandemic. TV viewership improved to an average of 11.74 million viewers a game, a 20% gain from last year’s average of 9.7 million, which was an all-time low. The championship was decided in six games both years, making comparisons in ad airings more direct. Fast-food companies this year showed the most commercials during the games, with almost 8,800 airings, according to analytics firm AdImpact. Those restaurant brands collectively nudged the automotive category out of the top spot, likely a reflection of bottlenecks in supply chains that prevented carmakers from obtaining semiconductors to completely assemble vehicles. The restaurant category was buoyed by Taco Bell, which for the 10th year in a row ran its “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion. The campaign offered free tacos in the event that any player stole a base during the series. However, job search site Indeed.com ran the most ads during the series, showing that many employers are still struggling to fill millions of job openings amid the “Great Resignation.”
- Spending growth for paid search, paid social and retail media advertising slowed in the third quarter from the second quarter. Yearly gains were measured against the steep drop in media spending during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Price increases helped to drive the rise in spending for paid search (+30%) and paid social (+34%), but was less of a factor for retail media (+21%), according to a study of digital media spending trends from adtech firm Skai, which was formed after Kenshoo acquired Signal Analytics. During the third quarter, Google, Facebook and Amazon all reported double-digit gains in ad revenue as volumes surged. Google’s ad sales rose 43% from a year earlier to $53.1 billion in the third quarter, while Facebook’s climbed 33% to $28.3 billion and Amazon’s rose 50% to about $8.09 billion. Apple’s changes to the privacy settings on its devices, including the iPhone, didn’t have a dramatic effect on social-media prices. Facebook’s cost per thousand (CPM) rate steadied after Apple updated its software in April, according to Skai. (Media agency Merkle last month published a different comparison — its report showed a yearly gain in Facebook’s CPMs during the third quarter.)
- Adobe announced a collaboration with The Walt Disney Company on Thursday as part of an effort to address the growing talent gap in the technology and digital fields.
- While missed ad opportunities and ad start times declined, buffering and picture quality worsened somewhat in the quarter.
- With 75% of all consumers watching videos on mute throughout the day, captions have become an integral part of processing video content across all platforms -- TV, movies and mobile.
- Employees using their company emails for personal activities poses both marketing and corporate security risks, SailPoint Technologies reports.
- Criteo on Wednesday reported that Q3 revenue 2021 grew 13% year-over-year to $211 million, excluding traffic acquisition costs. The company beat consensus by $595 million, and guided Q4 2021 revenue above analysts' estimates.
- Growing scrutiny of social-media companies has made consumers worldwide more aware of how their personal data is harvested for targeted advertising. The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how political campaigns used -- or misused -- Facebook data to hone their messaging and sway voters. Amid concerns about the power of social media, consumers tend to express anxiety and apathy about data gathering, a global survey by market researcher Ipsos found. Eighty-five percent of U.S. consumers said it was “inevitable” that people would lose some privacy because of technology, while only 28% said people “worry too much” about their online privacy. In addition, more than two-thirds (69%) of Americans said they were concerned about how the government uses information about their online activities. The findings suggest marketers and media owners should be transparent about their data collection methods and privacy practices as they gather more zero- and first-party data about consumers to gain greater insights about their behaviors.
- Consumers often agree to boilerplate terms and conditions without reading them. But what if they actually wanted to?
- Most firms are active in two or more social shops, although they face challenges, Forrester and Emplifi report.
- Amazon, a relative newcomer to the digital advertising market, saw growth of 50% to $8.09 billion in Q3.
- Is pervasive social media the same as broadcasting? And if it is, can it not be regulated in much the same way?
- The pandemic led to a significant shift in people’s media consumption habits. They spent more time at home and stayed in touch with each other through mobile devices and social media. Time spent with technology and media surged by 6.1% to an average of 13 hours and 11 minutes a day in 2020, according to a report by Activate Consulting. The firm estimates total time spent with media and technology will expand by about 0.4% a year until 2025 amid continued shifts in consumption habits. Gaming will drive the growth at 2.8% a year, followed by more time with audio, with a 1.1% annual gain and messaging and social media at 0.4%. The expansion of those segments will lead to less time spent with video, which will contract by about 0.7% a year until 2025. People also will spend less time doing other media activities, such as browsing websites, reading and attending live events, according to the forecast.
- Facebook's major rebrand to Meta is distracting. Media Matters for America, a nonprofit media watchdog, wants the public to be aware of what the Facebook Papers made clear just days ago: the social media platform puts profits ahead of ethics.
- MoffettNathanson estimates Q4 TV advertising will be down 1% versus the same period a year ago, largely due to slower scatter TV advertising sales.
- "To be sure, $10 billion can go a long way," GroupM Business Intelligence chief Brian Wieser quips, noting: "It took Facebook almost ten years, through 2013 to spend that much in operating expenditures."
- The pilot will test various approaches to the use of Virtual ID (VID) for television, with the goal of identifying the most accurate model for ad-campaign reach and frequency metrics.
- The all-stock transaction, valued at around $4 billion, will help Zendesk hit sales of $3.5 billion in 2024, it says.
- Twenty years of research advancements have helped elevate AI from a promising idea to an indispensable tool. Now Google says the technology is poised to help humanity confront some of the toughest challenges ever faced, from persistent problems like illness and inequality to emerging threats like climate change. And do multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Some 65% of executives citie the function in their list of top five needs.
- If you've been curious about whether to hold back ad spend due to the most recent surge, you likely shouldn't.
- The pandemic and protests against racism after the murder of George Floyd led many brands to change the tone of their advertising to express greater empathy. Phrases like “in these troubled times” were more prevalent in commercials as companies highlighted their good works and efforts to give back to society. While many consumers appreciate the messaging, they tend to be doubtful about corporate expressions of empathy — or the ability to understand and feel what others are feeling. Some 92% of U.S. consumers said they want to see brands practice empathy, but 66% expressed skepticism or disbelief when brands do so, according to a report titled “Is Empathy Dead in America?” by Method Communications. The PR-marketing firm commissioned a survey of a representative group of people ages 16 to 76. Authenticity is important, with more than half of consumers (55%) saying they are more likely to buy from a brand that shows empathy and is “human.” However, 47% said they don’t trust these expressions of empathy — they view them as a money-making strategy. Americans are conflicted about the role of technology companies in promoting empathy. While 51% said tech brands have a greater responsibility to society than other industries, given their money and influence, only 30% said the companies should spearhead efforts to promote empathy because of their role as thought leaders. Almost half (43%) of consumers said they blamed social-media platforms for declining empathy in society, according to the report.
